okay a chatterbait is one of my favourites to fish and through fishing it i can say i very much agree with Brett Hite. I think of it more as a squarebill or a rattle trap than a swim jig. I know people think this may be wrong but I fish it more so where I fish a squarebill or a rattle trap more than a spinnerbait or swim jig, let's look at 2 tournaments brett hite won on a chatterbait the FLW on okeechobee his main patterns were throwing a chatterbait and flipping, now when he throws a chatterbait it is on a fiberglass rod that is more like a cranking stick than a rod you would fish a jig on it's not a fast action it's a moderate glass rod.
now im going to compare what i have done i used to fish my chatterbaits on a MH/F rod but i have switched to a MH/M and since doing so i have felt as if i have much more control over the fish and a lot more sensitivity. to me i fish it like a squarebill or a crank where when you don't feel the vibration you pop it or try to clear the grass, in doing this i have found i hook up a lot more i haven't kept track but i caught maybe 5 chatterbait fish with my MH/F in a year and i have had days where i've caught 10 or more on my MH/M to me being able to feel that vibration is the key to a chatterbait i'm not a fan of fishing it on a jig rod i don't feel as much and i don't feel it gives the bait enough freedom and i feel like i loose fish because of it.
Brett's other big win came at the bassmaster elite on seminole he fished the same setup and targeted pre spwan bass that were in grass beds, the key was fishing it like a rattle trap where you make contact with the grass and pop it free, there are a few interviews with him where he talks about why he uses what he does in more detail.
for me i think working it like a crank and not like a jig has proven much better but that's up to you if you want to do that
